Hello American Folks,

I am [censored], so you will have to make allowances for my attitude.

If you have experience installing spokes on wire wheels, please proceed. If not, do not read further, as I will not need your input. And will RESENT any discussion that you might incite.

I received my BEAUTIFUL Dayton 60-spoke wire wheel that I just got off of eBay. It has been newly blasted and painted. It is a beautiful wheel for a spare tire. It has two short spokes missing, which I knew up front, so I bought 2 new spokes and nipples. Now, my problem. I have found that I cannot insert a spoke into its hole and get the proper angle to its other hole UNLESS I LOOSEN UP THE SPOKE NEXT TO IT. Here is the rub. I have soaked the nipple in liquid wrench, but it does not want to budge. It is a very soft metal, and I have destroyed it trying to loosen it up. The metal is so soft that the spoke wrench and vice grips have destroyed two of the available surfaces on the nipple. The only other surface is the screwdriver slit on the very end of the nipple. Even with my impact screwdriver, it will strip the nipple before it loosens it up.

So, do any of you know a way to loosen up the nipple? I have made sure that I am turning it in the correct direction. (Rule #1!)

Here is the way I look at it. I have 58 of 60 spokes, all very tight. This is 97 PERCENT of my spokes. Personally, I would enter 24 Hueres de LeMans with 97 PERCENT of ANYTHING! So, should I not just walk away from any further damage to this beautiful wheel? And put my PVC tape on, and have my tube and tire installed, and put the assembly in my spare tire compartment, and drive down the street like I know what-the-heck-I-am-doing?

Thanks in advance. I am also posting this to my European forum, hoping that there will be at least one person on each continent that has had experience with spokes. I am not in the mood for discussions about a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy. You get my drift. Again, thanks.

Actually, I don't care if you've got Tourette's syndrome, if you can't ask a civil question; you won't get a civil answer.

Broken spokes are like a chip in a windshield; they throw extra stress on the adjacent spokes so they soon break and so on. If you're lucky, they won't ruin the wheel as well.

All the standard formulas for loosening rusted threads apply ... sometimes there is no choice but to destroy them and start over.

Aloha George,

I have replaced spokes in wire wheels, and as you have discovered you often have to remove several spokes in order to lace in new ones. The corollary is that for each new spoke you intend to install you will probably break one or two spokes and ruin one or two nipples. This is especially true on older wheels. You mentioned the the wheel was freshly painted, perhaps the paint is also gripping the nipple to the wheel adding to the problem of loosening them. liberal amounts of PB Blaster and patience may help loosen the nipples. I also use a spoke wrench like the Moss Motors #385-800.

Usually if you run a wheel with missing or broken spokes over time this will lead to more broken spokes on the wheel. That being said, if it your intent to only use this wheel as a short term spare and not subject it to hard driving it should be OK for that purpose. My only caveat would be, if the spokes are near each other, this would place additional load on the other spokes.

Feel free to accept or reject my experience and opinion, as it is freely given.

(WOW)

I have owned many wire-wheeled cars in my time, some of them of considerable age, and can only endorse what's written above. Sometimes you need to replace 4 or 5 spokes when only one is broken, just for reasons you're discovering.
However, there is one trick we used to do back in the good old days, and that was to heat up a soldering iron - a real man's iron, not one of these fiddling electric jobs, but something that could hold real heat, and hold it on the nipple for a while. Sometimes they broke free.
Pity your wheel is already blasted and painted.

And, by the way it's 24 Heures du Mans, and the scrutineers wouldn't let you!

Unbelieveable.

But maybe we should all consider George's approach. Only "experts" need reply and see who if any step up to the plate.
Probably be a whole lot less activity on these Forums and all us non experts could just sit back and read..sounds exciting.

Well, the tone for this thread was pretty much set at the outset. I've had several complaints, so I'm locking this thread now.

Let's remember that we're all in this to HELP each other. "Experts" or not.

Mickey

Apparently the individual who made this post doesn't like playing nice with other kids, and asked to be "removed" from the member roles here. I was happy to comply with that request! I'm not deleting this thread because I want it to serve as a reminder how NOT to interact with others on BCF. I don't appreciate posts that indicate who can or can't reply to a topic! If someone makes a post here, then any member in good standing has the right to reply, so long as said reply is respectful and in good taste. I won't long tolerate the kind of attitude demonstrated by this glittering jewel!